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AudioTim 41: Ramez Naam, author of SF Thriller, NEXUS

It’s good to be back. Two qualifications for guests in Season Two of audioTim: I enjoy their book and am excited about the conversation. Both were true of Ramez Naam and his debut fiction novel, Nexus, to be released December 18th from Angry Robot Books. I’m editing my Science Fiction novel, and loved Ramez’s book because of how much he showed me about the future of nanotechnology, mindmapping, scientific telepathy and other sciences I had no idea could exist. Not only does his book have that, but the story is very compelling as well.

I used the following blurb from a Nexus bookmark as an outline for our discussion:

NEXUS by Ramez Naam

Mankind gets an upgrade.

In the near future, the nano-drug Nexus can link mind to mind.

There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.

When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage, with far more at stake than anyone realizes.

In between I got to ask him about the various technologies that he uses in his book, their source in real life, and how their use in his book affects the world within the story. We also discussed his guest post at SF Signal, “The Science of Nexus,” in which he points out some technological inspirations for his book.

GIVEAWAYS:

Angry Robot Books has offered to provide a paperback copy of Nexus as a giveaway for this interview. Check out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Ramez is doing his own giveaway, of sorts, where he’ll send you an ebook copy of his non-fiction book, More Than Human, to anyone who buys Nexus by December 31. Click here for details on that.

Timothy C. Ward is a former executive producer and Hugo Nominee of Adventures in SciFi Publishing. He has been broke and lost on the other side of the world and now dreams of greater adventures from his keyboard in Des Moines, Iowa. This summer, he released his second Sand Divers book, Scavenger: A.I., where two parents use an ancient technology to fight a reproducing A.I. while trying to resurrect their deceased infant, and a new series that begins with Godsknife: Revolt, an apocalyptic battle for godhood in the rift between Iowa and the Abyss. Sign up for his newsletter for news, sales, giveaways and more: http://www.timothycward.com/newsletter/.